For Cerberus
by TheFerrango
Summary: An AU where Cmd. Shepard sides with Cerberus. Canon up to the ending of ME2
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"You brought me back to lead the fight against the Reapers. If you can keep up with it, good. Otherwise I'll win this without you." And indeed, he did.

The Illusive Man proved more ready to the fight than Shepard thought possible. In the weeks after the attack on the Collector Base, Cerberus completed numerous successful operations against the remaining Collector forces, leaving the galaxy some room to breathe. But it was just a matter of time, and they both knew it. The Reapers were about to invade in mass, and no matter the scale of their efforts, cleansing the galaxy of Collectors and Husks was as useful as teaching a varren how to drive the Normandy.

But it felt like doing the right thing, and it sure was better than just sitting around waiting for the inevitable.

And then the Arrival came. Harbinger and the Alpha relay were still vivid in Shepard's mind. The sight of a whole solar system blasted away from the Universe. What he did had been harsh, brutal, and morally ambiguous. Was sacrificing all [insert number here] really justified? He felt so, and that's why, after destroying the relay, Shepard decided to join Cerberus indefinitely, because he knew that they would do anything to stop the Reapers, no matter the cost. And that's when things started to go to hell.

His mission on Noveria had been a failure, the Normandy had also been lost, and the Alliance captured him, bringing him all the way back to Earth, where he was to be judged for his actions in the Bahaka system.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 - Noveria**

In the time following the Alpha relay's destruction, Shepard was assigned a few clean up tasks from Cerberus. These assignments consisted mostly in removing Collectors and a few indoctrinated Geth survivors who though occupying Cerberus bases would be a good idea. It was during one of these missions that Shepard was captured.

The objective was easy: a group of forgotten Geth left over from Benezia successfully attacked and seized control of a Binary Helix research facility on Noveria; Shepard and his team had been tasked with regaining control of the facility or, in the worst case, prevent the enemy from getting away with the latest prototypes in biotic amplifiers and genome enhancements. Shepard and his team quickly regained control of a large section of the labs, but were pinpointed outside of the main computer core room. Incapacitated to continue, the team agreed that recovering the structure would prove impossible, and resorted to the second objective: containment.

A small, low yield nuke was detonated at the bottom of the facility, resulting in the whole structure collapsing on itself. But they underestimated the Geth. Upon returning to the Noveria docking bay, the team found the place to be dead. Or worse. Dead bodies were laying around everywhere and a few Dragon teeth had been deployed. Getting back to the Normandy would prove problematic. Getting to the docks would require walking through the Noveria main hall: a wide, open space with many hideouts and possible sniping positions, all in favour of their enemies.

Shepard, Miranda and Garrus drew out their weapons, ready to fight off the horde of husks that once manned this outpost. Exiting the cargo bay and entering the small room between the lifts and the hall, Shepard signalled Garrus to check out the area, who reported that only a few husks were roaming the place. "They're relics, they probably don't have the resources to build enough Dragon teeth for the all the personnel." - Shepard said – "Or at least they didn't. Either way, we must clear that room to get off of here!"

They all tightened their hold of their guns as they entered the main hall, quickly taking cover behind a wall.

They waited there a few seconds, exchanging silent thoughts, then came out of their hidings and shot at every husk they saw. All six of them were dead over a few seconds.

"That doesn't seem right, they are way too few. Even with limited resources, your previous encounters with the Geth showed that they were more than capable to create large quantities of husks over a very short time." Miranda noticed, "So what are the Geth doing?" They moved, covering half the hall before stopping again to check the area: nothing. No Geth, no husks, nothing. Shepard moved forward, leaving the hall's plaza behind him, when Garrus called him "hold on a second, I think I just saw something near administration. We should check it out". Shepard nodded, agreeing, and the group moved towards the administration. "Noveria security must love you, Shepard. First the incident with Kaira, Anoleis, Benezia, and no…" a large explosion, coming from the administration offices, covered the end of his phrase. "Explosives, take cover!" shouted Shepard, kneeing behind what was once the vase of a beautiful blue and white plant "at least we know where they are!"

"Where they were would be more likely Commander"

"Miranda?"

"Look Shepard, the Geth blown themselves up. Whatever they had here, it's gone"

They surveyed what was once Anoleis' office, now reduced to a smoking pot of burned smithereens and some bigger wreckage, and proceeded toward the docks.

"Commander, this is Joker, EDI has picked up traces of an Alliance cruiser closing in on the planet, it's probably best if we leave ASAP."

"Understood Joker, there's nothing more for us here. We're coming back to the ship, ready to launch as soon as we get on board."

"Aye aye Commander, Joker out"

Shepard glazed at Miranda, who was still randomly looking for any clue of what the Geth were trying to do there. "Let's go, it's better we don't keep Joker waiting. I heard him and Mass Sargent became good friends, and I don't want them pulling jokes on me. Especially the sergeant."

They had just passed the weapon scanners in the entrance when they heard a voice yell "on your left!": three Geth, two with a rocket launcher and a Prime, de cloaked in the lower entrance, right in front of the door, and started shooting at the three of them. They retreated into the corridor leading the hall.

"Aaaagh!" they turned toward the sound, only to see a young man wearing Elani Control armour being stabbed by another Prime. The three of them levelled their weapons and fired at the Prime's

"We need to get to the Normandy before the Alliance gets here, come on!" yelled Shepard, as he took his trusted assault rifle from his back, and sprayed a few rounds on the Geth's shields "any ideas on how to get passed those Geth? Miri? Garrus?"

"I think I saw a hammerhead on the garage at the other end of the building. It was pretty beaten up, but it looked like it still had a flight in it. If we could get to that, Joker can pick us up on the route to peak 15 and we'll disappear from the system" proposed Garrus.

"Miranda? What do you think?"

"Well, unless we want to fight our way through all the Geth in the entrance on our own, I suggest we go with Garrus' idea"

"All right. Hammerhead it is then. Back to the hall, now! We don't have much time"

they sprinted through the Plaza, and were just about to end the stairs when a Geth rocket went by only a few meters from them.

"Get in the elevator, I'm right behind you!" said Shepard offing one of the rocket launcher Geth with his Revenant "GO! And get the Hammerhead ready!"; he then signalled Joker, informing him on the new extraction plan, "and activate the stealth system"

"Way ahead of you Commander, we're completely invisible until they try to dock."

Shepard reloaded, then came out of his cover, spraying another burst toward the incoming Geth, while walking backwards toward the elevator where Miranda and Garrus were waiting for him, when another rocket hit the wall behind him, resulting in the collapse of the doorway to the elevator. "Damn it, this is not how I want to end" thought Shepard, as he covered behind a chest-high vase.

"Commander, we felt the floor trembling, what's going on?"

"It's the Geth, they blown up the doorway. I'm stuck down here Miri. I'm sorry!"

He came up a little from his cover, aiming the Revenant and shooting at another Geth that had the bad idea of getting too close.

"Garrus, Miranda, the Alliance will soon be here. You have to go!"

"But Commander! You're getting yourself killed. The Alliance will probably shoot at you as if you were a terrorist. And that's provided that you survive the Geth long enough for them to arrive!"

"Oh, don't worry about the Geth" said Shepard, throwing his Revenant on the floor, now empty "I've got them right where I wanted them" he added, smiling, and reached for the Cain on his back _"I never get to play with this thing"_ he thought to himself, as he looked at squad of Geth on the other side of the hall

"Commander, Garrus and Miranda are on board" Joker's voice came out creaky from his helmet's speakers "good. Now get the hell out of here Joker, there's no need for you to be captured too." As he was saying this, he started the charge up sequence of the Cain. "Just, keep an eye out for me, ok?" as he finished talking he jumped up from his hideout, aimed toward the hallway were the Geth were standing, and fired.

Glass, Geth parts and rubble from the walls were flying everywhere in the room, as the old-looking mushroom explosion obliterated most of the Geth, shuttered the wall sized windows and burned the electric system in the room.

Shepard dropped the now expended Cain, there was no point carrying it around with no ammo, and switched to his Locust. He walked toward the once-bright entrance to the hall, finishing off the last surviving Geth. It was there, near what was once Opolod's store, that the last Geth managed to hit him, penetrating his suit. Shepard fell to his knees, and watched, as the Geth prepared to shoot at him again, just to see his light bulb's head explode into tiny pieces. He turned to look who took the shot, and saw a squad of Alliance soldiers standing in the rubble. He then gave in to the pain and passed out.


	3. Prelude to Chapter 2

**Interlude to chapter 2**

"We should've helped him"

"You know we couldn't Miranda, the Alliance was already there. They would have taken us too. The Commander wouldn't want that"

Miranda was about to say something, but was interrupted by Kelly's voice coming from the intercom: "Miranda, the Illusive Man wants to speak with you. He says it's urgent"

"I'll be there as soon as I get out of the Hammerhead Miss Chambers. Miranda out"


	4. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 – Earth**

He had been there for over three months now. Locked, in an Alliance high security prison, confined to his cell. One hour a day to spend outside, and that was it. No visitors, no contact with other inmates and no mail. " _They're treating me like a terrorist, when I am the one who prevented their destruction three times already…or delayed, anyway_ ".

The only person who visited him was his old friend Anderson, who was only able to do so thanks to his ambassador access and a few old contacts within the prison's personnel, and even then they were almost constantly monitored. But he knew that the Reaper threat was real, and understood his reasons for joining Cerberus, and perhaps the most important thing, he was trying to spread awareness of the situation. Not that it was easy, especially with the Council refusing every evidence of the Reaper, and now Shepard had joined Cerberus, mining Anderson's influence over the other ambassadors. In fact, Anderson's power was at his lowest peak since he had taken the position. After a few weeks, even Anderson stopped visiting, busy as he was trying to repair the Alliance's image in the eyes of the other species.

So there he was, the man who saved the universe three times, locked in a room for stepping up and not hiding his head under the ground when things looked bleak.

He missed his friends, Garrus, Tali, even Joker and his awfully bad puns, and he missed Miranda: he couldn't hope for the highest ranking Cerberus operative to just show up and visit him at the most guarded Alliance prison, couldn't he?

It had been over two weeks since Anderson's last visit, when Shepard heard footsteps from the corridor outside his cell. Anderson and Hackett, plus two other people from the security personnel, entered the room.

"Hello Commander" said Hackett "The Council would like to speak to you. We have arranged a meeting on one of Pluto's detention facilities, you will meet them there. There's no need for them to see you here in this state". Shepard couldn't shake the feeling that something was worrying the Admiral, and started picturing what kind of threat could make Hackett this nervous. Then Anderson spoke: "We think they arrived. Colonies on the furthest edges of the Terminus Systems have gone dark. Their last transmissions indicated something of immense mass and power closing into their positions. We already sent a scout force but they didn't find anything" "Sounds familiar?" asked Hackett, as he continued "We've scheduled the meeting for the next week. You will meet with Asari and Turian councillors, plus the temporary replacement for the Salarian one, as Valern is occupied with internal affairs. A ship will come to transfer you tomorrow at 1600 hours. I suggest you clean yourself up a little" Hackett then distanced himself from Shepard, ready to leave.

"Anderson, are you coming or what?" "I would just like a few words with Shepard, Admiral." "Agreed, meet me on the SSV Bombay as soon as you're finished. See you later Councillor."

Anderson waited for the admiral to leave, and then spoke "If this is what _we_ think it is, we're not ready Shepard. But let's focus on the positive side, the Council is finally willing to listen to you" "It's not as they weren't willing to _listen_ to me before, as much as they didn't want to believe me, Councillor". Shepard thought back to the last couple of years: his mission on Eden Prime, private Jenkins, and the chain of seemingly non-stop events that brought him there. "This time will be…" " _different?_ " Shepard let out a sight, laughing at the thought of the Council believing him. "Have you become so deluded to actually believe that they will do something?" "Have you given up, Shepard?" Shepard vamped at the sole thought of what Anderson had just said. "No, but I'd rather give advice to somebody that will do something with said advice" "You mean your new best friends at Cerberus? Yeah, right. We haven't heard anything from them since we captured you." Shepard stood up and looked Anderson in the eyes. "Good… what was that?" "It sounded like the echo of a far explosion. I'd better catch up with Hackett. See you soon Shepard". He was halfway through the cell's door when the whole structure started shacking throwing both him and Shepard on the ground. The following instants were pure chaos. Alarms and hazard lights started screaming and flashing through the whole facility, painting the grey walls of a bright, worrying red, and accompanied by more and more frequent sounds of explosions. More frequent and more loud thought Shepard, as he helped Anderson back on his feet. "Sir, the SSV Bombay was hit by the first blow, sir – a young man, wearing the red security officer uniform run down to report Anderson – Hackett ordered me to give you this, he's authorizing you to move Shepard. A shuttle is waiting for you on the other side of the facility". "Who is it? Cerberus?" "No admiral, it's... I don't know sir, all I saw was a giant shadow and some sort of beam hitting the Admiral's ship. Passed her through like it was butter"

Another explosion, this time much closer. A console outside Shepard's cell exploded, along with a few lamps. "We need to go". "Something's coming, you go Admiral, I'll stay here and provide cover. Good luck to both of you". Shepard looked at the security officer one last time before turning away and follow Anderson towards the other side of the hallway. An agonizing scream followed soon after. Shepard jumped to the nearest console and activated the security compartments in the sectors they just run through.

"Good thinking Commander, that should buy us some time. Now we need to figure out how we are going to leave the planet" "Well, Councillor…" "No, Shepard, I'm not willing to just give you back to Cerberus." "But you know they're not the enemy" "Yes, but I can't just let you walk away, you're still technically a prisoner. Besides, no one has heard from Cerberus in a long time, who knows if they have any starship nearby". "I know you have the power to fix at least one of those problems". "We'll see. For now, let us concentrate on getting the hell out here. Alive."

They walked for over an hour through the maze that were the service corridors of the prison, trying not to get lost and to get to the rear hangar, when a sudden and already too familiar tremble shacked the structure. Shepard looked out of a nearby window, and noticed that the latest attack had cut through the prison, making their escape plan impossible. "I hope you have a plan B ready, Anderson. We won't be getting anywhere near a shuttle for quite some time." "You've known me for a long time Shepard, I'm surprised you'd ask" the Councillor sounded almost offended, and finally gave in to a smile "of course I do. This prison has a secondary underground access connected to the main underground transportation network. It was all sealed off years ago, but I should have high enough clearance to safely access that section. This way." Anderson guided them through a long corridor, and entered the third to last room on the right. "Gear up Shepard, we need to be ready" Shepard looked at Anderson, then laughed "Are you giving weapons to a terrorist?" Anderson didn't reply, and proceeded to gear himself up. Shepard took what looked like a slightly modified Inferno armour, geared himself up and activated his helmet. "Hello" said a voice in the helmet "And thank you for testing the Kassa Fabrication Inferno Armor Mark 4. For a better experience while using this suit of armour, please follow the procedures and tactics indicated in the attached documentation." he could feel the power flowing towards the armour's many servos that helped him move, as he attempted a few steps to get used to the new armour, and managed to take a look at himself in a nearby mirror. The armour was painted of a darkened steel tone, instead of the usual red, with black and chromed refinements. A few tubes were exposed, sign of the still on-going development the armour was going through. " _This better not blow up in the middle of a fight_ " thought Shepard, as he looked for extra plates he might have overlooked. The extra plates were also steel coloured, but of a different shade. They snapped on easily above the shoulders and on his chest, helping him balancing the weight of the power generator in his back. "DNA analysis completed – said the familiar in-helmet voice – Spectre status confirmed. Interfacing with the facility's security system in progress." He shacked his head a little and proceeded toward the weapons cabinet. "No prototype weapons I'm afraid. You'll have to make it with this standard M7 rifle. You got the armour though. Are you ready?" Shepard loaded the rifle Anderson gave him, "Real time security feed unavailable, warning, structural integrity compromised, hostiles detected" "As soon as I get this armour to shut up. Heads up, hostiles incoming".

They exited the room, running through the corridor towards the secondary elevators, when the elevators suddenly opened. "Husks! Take them down Shepard, and get to cover" shouted Anderson, while unloading his rifle on an incoming trio of husks. Shepard's visor flashed, highlighting two hostiles closing in to their position. Two abominions, the explosive husk variant, where running toward him, and where quickly gunned down by Shepard's gun. "look out, there're more of those things coming for us".

Anderson shot a wandering husk that got a little too close and Shepard, leaving his cover at the turn of the corridor, sprinted toward the now empty elevator, just in time to see its doors close and the elevator fall freely inside the shaft, hitting the bottom with a loud noise of metal smashing onto other metal. Soon after, more husks came up, crawling from inside the demolished elevator shaft. Shepard realised he was now a clear target, and started shooting at the husks while retreating in search for cover, which was provided by a collapsed portion of a nearby wall. Anderson was already there, providing him with cover fire. "how many more of those things are there? Damn it, the m7 overheated!" said Shepard, leaning against the collapsed wall to cover. Suddenly, two husk jumped over their cover and right on top of them, sending Anderson's rifle a few meters from the. Shepard struggled with the husk attacking him, while trying to ignore his armour's continuous warnings about the husk attacking him. He managed to throw the husk a few meters from him and finally draw a little breath, when he noticed that the armour was suggesting him to enable the enhanced hand combat mode. "Hand combat mode enabled" said the now too familiar voice, while schematics and numbers for the hard light suit projectors popped up on his visor. The plates on the right arm of the armour lighted up, with orangey/yellow lights showing the increased flow of energy from the generator on Shepard's back. then the emitters came up, projecting a long, slightly curved blade over his arm. He jumped on the husk that was running back to him, and slid his blade all the way into the husks body. Servos inside the armour rotated the projected blades, tearing the husk apart and splattering Shepard's armour with the husk's fluids. Shepard savoured in the moment, when he was startled by the sound of a firing gun. "if you're done showing off" said Anderson, while finishing off a husk with his gun "we really need to go Shepard". They quickly disappeared down the elevator shaft.


	5. Chapter 3

**Chronos station**

"All Normandy personnel, please report to your stations immediately. We're leaving in minutes." Miranda's voice resonated through the facility's PA system, announcing what was next "Earth is under attack. We'll need everyone at his best...if we want to rescue Shepard". "this will not be easy miss Lawson, our operatives on earth are reporting heavy fire". Miranda stared at the projection of earth surrounded by reapers. The hologram zoomed in to a view of the facility where Shepard was being kept; in the background, a large reaper was seen firing at the facility. "I didn't come to Cerberus to have it easy". "Expect heavy resistance, the reapers are not the only ones who want to keep Shepard from us. The Alliance…they're starting to see who the real threat is, but I wouldn't call them friendly exactly…not yet anyway." "we'll get him back sir, don't worry" "I'm always worried miss Lawson. Humanity's own survival becomes more endangered with every minute". they both stared once again at the holoprojection of earth. "I'd better get to the Normandy" "Before you go" he said while reaching for a datapad "our engineers have already begun extracting technology from the Collector base. It's mostly basic tech for now, but they managed to get their hands on this." TIM's eyes flickered as he added Miranda to allowed list of people who could access the file "This is..." "Yes." He interrupted her "I could have had the crew of the station install it on the Normandy, but I preferred to keep this quiet for the time being. I've granted you unrestricted access to the related data miss Lawson. I'm sure you can trust the engineers on board the Normandy with the data." "I'm not sure this will be ready for when we reach Earth, but this could buy us precious time should anything go sideways". A dot flashed on the station's holoprojection. "My crew is on board. I'd better go then. I'll keep in contact via QEC." "Good luck Lawson" Miranda disappeared beyond the doors of TIM's office. The Illusive Man watched as the Normandy left the docking hangar and disappeared in FTL, and lighted up a cigar. "you're going to need it" he whispered.

The doors of the elevator hissed open as Miranda exited the lift. She stretched her catsuit as she walked past the stairs to the lower storage rooms and entered engineering, were she found Gabby walking on the console alone. "Miranda, ma'am. Anything I can do for you?" "I was just making sure everything is alright. We're going to need the Normandy at its best if we plan to even survive this mission. Any problems with the new modifications?" "Yeah. Some minor issues we're already working on. Having one oversized eezo core to work with is demanding to begin with. Adding two extra smaller cores and having all three of them working together in sync is…well, let's say I would never wish for anything bad to happen to EDI" "I'm sure she'll like to hear that. Oh, I almost forgot. The Illusive Man gave me this. His engineers say that with some minor modifications this could be applied on the Normandy. It wasn't installed on the base because it's still kept a secret outside of Project Coil"

Gabby walked towards the console on the left of the room, entering data from a datapad Miranda handed her. The orange interface flickered for a few instants before showing an exploded model of what appeared to be a power node of some sorts "It's based off collector tech, salvaged from beyond the Omega 4 relay. We can say they didn't waste any time getting to work." "If this data is correct" a certain tone of wander and doubt could be heard in Gabriella's voice "this distribution system reduces lag time between request and dispatch of high energy bursts to almost zero. And provides better distribution to the power system. Why do we need those extra generators then?" "That's…for another day. How long until you can integrate the new power nodes?" "Starting now, I could have them installed before we reach Earth. But I wouldn't trust them to hold while in battle. Not without some prior testing. I suggest we wait until after our mission and then apply the modifications. I can make preparations in the meantime." "Do that. But remember that short term operability of the Normandy has precedence right now." "Don't worry Miranda. We'll get Shepard back." "I know. I just…it won't be easy. I want everyone at its best." "The Normandy will be ready ma'am. Me and Ken will make sure of it" "Speaking of Kenneth…where is him?" "He went to check some noises in the Tantalus core cooling system. It's been acting weirdly since we left space dock. Not to worry though. It's nothing critical, just…distracting. And annoying." "Well that's not very nice you-oh-miss Lawson, ma'am" Kenneth blushed as he caught his words with gabby and stood to attention "Very well. I'll come back later then." With that said, Miranda left the room, headed to the main batteries.

"Ouch! What was that for, Gab." "You know damn well wat it was for Ken. And stop staring. She's left the room two minutes ago." "I wasn't staring" "You were drooling on your uniform" "Hey!" They looked at each other for a moment, before bursting in a nervous, playful laugh. "I like you when you're jealous"

"Gunnery chief Vakarian" The turian crawled back from under the main gun barrel and looked at Miranda, noting her anxious expression "Don't tell me, Cerberus decided to replace the gun and I will have to recalibrate the whole thing again. Why can't they just leave it as it is for once" "We're going to install a new weapon, yes, but that's not why I'm here, Garrus. The Illusive Man just gave me notice. Earth is under attack. Our orders are to get there and rescue Shepard before anything happens to him." "About time. Although I don't feel good about shooting down Alliance troops. Even if it's just stun rounds." "If everyone keeps his word, we won't have to fire a single shot" she paused "at anyone but the Reapers." "The old girl will be ready miss Lawson. We'll get Shepard back, and we will show the Reapers that they messed with the wrong people."

"Very well. I'll leave you to your work then. Be ready for when we reach Earth" "Yes ma'am." Miranda left the room, and EDI's voice announced that they were ETA to Earth in one hour, quickly followed by Miranda's "All senior officers please report to the briefing room. We have a rescue to plan".


	6. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 **Earth**

"I thought it would never end. Damn that thing is slow" said Shepard while exiting the elevator and shooting at the controlling console, isolating from the upper detention facility. He and Anderson made their way from the elevator towards the closed hatch that isolated the old transport network from the rest of the facility. "According to the maps, there's another elevator behind that wall there. All we have to do is take it down, power the elevator and ride it all the way down to the transport system. They left some early skycar in there before sealing it off. It was supposed to be an official emergency exit before the direction decided against it. If we're lucky they'll still be in working order.

"Now, as soon as we blow up this wall, we'll only have a couple of minutes before this place is filled with reaper forces. I'm sure they already know where we are, so Shepard, here's the thing." Anderson picked up a small chip from his pocket and attached it to a nearby terminal. Shepard's profile flashed on the screen. His military profile, reports of his missions, reports of his work for the Illusive Man, and a number of other files related to his charges. "We can't have you leaving Vancouver with all these charges on you, let alone leaving Earth." He then entered a few more commands "Identity confirmed" replied the computer in a happily – ready-to-help tone "authority granted by Fleet Admiral Hackett. Removing and updating data" "We made a deal Shepard. Hell, we could compromise the whole Alliance's legitimacy with this." "You didn't have to, Anderson. I would have been willing to face those charges if that's what it takes to convince the brass that the Reapers are the real threat." "Nonsense Commander. Besides, I couldn't let our first Spectre being held captive. So me and Hackett made a deal that you would come out of this, one way or the other. And given what happened to the Admiral's ship…" he paused, removing the chip from the console and opening a nearby weapon locker. "If they kept their word, a ship is coming here for you. It will take us to the Citadel. As humanity's representative, it's where I'll have to be. As for you…" he searched again in his pockets and procured an earpiece. A black and gold logo was clearly visible on it, leaving no doubt on the earpiece's origin. "here. It transmits on a coded frequency. Short range only. And I mean short. 1000 kilometres tops. They'll call you as soon as they're around" Shepard put the earpiece on, his look grateful to his mentor, and proceeded to arm himself from the weapon locker. "Mattock 98. Now we're talking. And for the demolition work…" he and Anderson both picked up a rocket launcher and aimed it at the wall. "Fire!" the two rockets travelled quickly to their target, leaving a faint trail as the propellant left the shells, and hit the wall with a powerful blast, sending dust and debris in their direction. "Let's go, we only have minutes before they're here." They rushed to the broken wall, entering the abandoned hidden room. An old elevator was there, together with a power breaker, an old console and a small fusion powercell. Shepard worked its controls, activating it. Lights came up with a flash, as the elevator engine started humming. "Okay, the powercell should keep up long enough for one trip Shepard. Let me just activate…done" as he finished entering codes on the old console. A whirring sound caught Shepard's attention, and two ceiling-mounted turrets were lowered and aimed at the hole in the wall. "Those should buy us some time. Now let's go." They rushed in the elevator, and proceeded even further down. "Elevators. Here's to my hoping not to have to rely on you again" thought Shepard.

The elevator stopped a few minutes later. Old style machinegun crackling could be heard from above, a sign that the ceiling turrets were working. A sign that they had to move. Exiting the elevator shaft, Shepard and Anderson stepped into what used to be the Vancouver Grand Station. The room was a large, high circle with an array of elevators in the centre. Two main roads were visible, connected to a smaller circle around the elevator shafts. On the sides of each road, many abandoned stores and offices remained intact, a shadow of what used to be the pulsating heart of the underground transport network. "The emergency vehicles should be there" Shepard watched toward the place Anderson indicated, noticing a large parking lot with numerous skycars parked, most of which had been damaged by some debris that fall from ceiling. Shepard moved closer to the skycars, looking for one that hadn't been buttered or rendered inoperable. "Here, this one seems ok." "Yes, this should do. At least for bringing us out of here. What do you think you're doing Shepard?" The commander looked at Anderson, a clearly surprised expression readable on his face "I was just…" "I read your crew's reports, Commander" he said with a grin "there's no way I'm letting you drive this thing". The skycar powered on almost immediately, its indicators flickering into life after a long time of sleep, and the eezo core roaring its wake, shaking the shuttle as it slowly climbed up, the inertial dampeners not being able to compensate for the intense vibration of the elderly craft. The skycar began to advance, its long, curved nose tilted gently toward the ground as the massive eezo core on the back spouted its power to the main engine, propelling the shuttle forward with a considerable acceleration. After a few minutes of fast driving towards the designated exit, the duo started to see some light. "Damn it. They're here already. This corridor had been sealed." "Let's look at the good side Anderson, they already broke it for us." "Right. Hang on, I'm going to push this thing to the limit." Anderson raised the engine lever to its maximum, pushing the old eezo core to its breaking point. The shuttle shuddered as the tremendous amount of power flowed into the engine, which lit up with an almost blinding blueish light, sending the speeding shuttle towards the exit and cutting in half a few husks that attempted to jump on the vehicle, only to be met with their fate. Suddenly, a red light started flashing, informing the inhabitants of the skycar of the imminent core meltdown "Anderson!" shouted Shepard "The core's fried, and we're going to be too if we don't get out of here." "We're almost there Shepard, just a few more seconds…now!" Anderson activated the ejector system on his seat, quickly followed by Shepard. A few seconds later, the skycar's engine finally gave out, short circuited, and powered off, sending the high-velocity shuttle toward a nearby group of ground reaper forces. The long shape of the vehicle crashed into the flesh of a couple of Scions in the middle of the group, slashing them like they were made of paper, and proceeded to a halt against a large Praetorian, hitting it on the side and crashing into his armour with a loud noise. A few instants later, the eezo core exploded, wiping the rest of the reaper forces into a bright flash of fire and head, vaporizing both the reapers and what used to be the shuttle, along with everything else in a 40 meters area. "That never happened to me Anderson!" said Shepard, a smirk printed on his face as he landed a few meters from the Councillor.

The Normandy exited the Chevron relay, its cloaking device already active, and sped up toward Earth "Damn it! Looks like we're already too late. EDI, any news of Commander Shepard?" asked Miranda, managing to keep herself professional in spite of the spectacle before her eyes, a little wariness betraying her otherwise confident tone. "Hold on. I'm scanning Alliance frequencies for information…Admiral Hackett's ship was destroyed in the first wave of attacks, the Admiral survived, but…no mention of Shepard." "We need to get closer. Joker, bring us in the lower atmosphere" "aye aye" answered the pilot, as he steered the frigate lower into Earth's atmosphere. "Jeff, we're being targeted by one of the reapers, evasive man" the pilot's station flickered with static and errors as the Normandy took a hit to its primary right engine, which exploded in a fiery cloud of fire and eezo, damaging the Normandy's wing and cooking the paintjob on the upper side of the ship. "Bastards!" swore Miranda "Damage report, and put that fire out NOW!" she breathed heavily as she stood up again, her hands flying over the controls of the CIC's Normandy diagram in an attempt to identify the major damage. "One engine destroyed. FTL maximum speed reduced by 60%. Also, we're venting plasma and eezo into the atmosphere, making the cloaking device useless. Power levels are at 70%. Dorsal and ventral kinetic barriers have failed over our right wing. Damage to the sickbay and the port observation room. No casualties." Said EDI in a helpful tone "They're targeting us again…wait…unidentified starship approaching…it's firing at the Reaper…he's stopped following us. Resuming tracking of Commander Shepard" Joker sighted with relief and, after waiting a few seconds for the controls to come back online, steered the Normandy towards the Commander's last known location.

Shepard took a deep breath as he touched the ground again. The air was warm and heavy, filled with dust from the recent explosion. It was also quiet, and Shepard took the unexpected break to relax a little and take a look at the damage his suit sustained in the recent fights. "That could've gone a lot worse Commander. We should be clear enough from the main battle to get a clean signal" said the admiral, looking at the fires in the distance. Shepard took the earpiece Anderson gave him before they managed to escape, and sent out a distress call. "Com…d..r! This is Jok..r, where ..r.. ….u?" "Joker, is that you? Come in, Joker" the commander's voice sounded worried, as he started looking around trying to see any approaching ship. "Joker, are you still there? Joker?" "Commander! It's good to hear your voice Commander". "It's good to hear you too Joker, where are you?" "We're closing onto your position commander. I have to say, exploding volcanoes, Reaper-attacked cities, having to rescue you gets me always in the best of places-" "I've got it Joker, you saved my ass again" "WE did" said joker with a smile, and nodding at EDI's hologram. "We'll be there in fifteen minutes. Try not to turn the ground below you into volcano, would you?" Shepard shook his head and nodded to Anderson to prepare, when a loud scream got their attention. A pair of praetorians, together with four scions, were closing in towards their position. "Joker, this is Shepard. Move your ass and come get us ASAP, we have heavy hostiles" he levelled his assault rifle and aimed at the nearest scion, sending a burst of bullets through many of the creature's heads. The scion tripped over, losing its balance due to the now missing heads, but quickly managed to regain his composure, and responded by throwing a powerful biotic attack towards Shepard, who was thrown on his back by the powerful biotic blast that hit him. He raised his rifle and fired another round of bullets to the scion, followed by Anderson. The attack broke off enough of the monster's heads to make it fall and stay laying down in the ground, not moving anymore. "One less to go" shouted Anderson after popping the heat filled sink from his rifle and snapping in a new one. "Shepard, watch out!". One of the praetorians hit Shepard with his lasers. Shepard's shields flickered rapidly as their generator capacitors tried to provide the instantaneous power to keep them running. Finally, with a loud bang, the capacitors blew out, leaving the commander's armour exposed. The remaining part of the attack hit Shepard's armour directly, boiling half the plating and sending Shepard flying across the vegetation for a couple of meters. Shepard signalled Anderson to take cover, and switched his weapon to the rocket launcher he took before. "Try to distract it, I'll hit it from behind!" he shouted. Anderson jumped out of his cover, running towards a large nearby rock away that would offer some protection from the praetorian's lasers, and managed to crouch behind it just as a wave of heat hit him in the back, his barriers flickering out of existence just a second after he took cover "Shield's gone. Move Shepard!". Shepard lurched from behind his hiding and took aim, firing the powerful rocket as the shockwave from a scion attack hit him. The attack struck the commander was on his left flank, sending him flying for a few meters and causing the rocket to be fired off course. Shepard watched the rocket with worry until he figured out that the hit he took made him shoot towards two of the remaining scions, hitting one in the multitude of heads. Flesh and bones were scattered all around as the heat wave from the explosion tore apart the two scions, the one in the vicinity providing a large part of the gory image before collapsing into a smoking pile of melted flesh. Shepard smiled as he regained his posture and switched back to rifle, and threw a grenade toward the last scion, which stripped the alien with its explosion. Shepard rushed back to his cover, aware that the scion had now recognised him as a greater threat, and emptied his rifle into the scion, removing chunks of flesh and splitting open the many heads on him, leaving it in a pool of blood and brain matter as it fall under its own weight, incapable of keeping itself balanced with so many of its heads gone. "Now I could use some help!" shouted the commander, as an attack from the praetorian started melting the rock he was hiding behind. Shepard quickly jumped forward, avoiding the flow of molten rock that was now all that remained of his hiding. Anderson in the meantime had switched to his rocket launcher, and fired a shot right into the praetorian's back, causing its armour to lose some plating. The admiral pressed the trigger again on his weapon, only to find that it had jammed. "Damn it! The launcher's gone Shepard, get to cover!" Shepard sprinted toward the admiral, but it was already too late. Both beams from the praetorian hit him on the back, overloading the shields of his armour. "Warning" announced the on-board VI of the suit "back barrier generators destroyed, diverting power to front barrier generators to compensate. Physical damage detected, applying medigel" Shepard felt a strike of relief as the medigel was applied by the suit injectors directly on his burns, the suit attempting to treat him from the damages it has caused. "warning, lower mobility compromised." A schematic of the suit's legs flashed on the Commander's HUD, informing him that the servos in his suit's legs had melted from the heat of the hit, and were now inoperable. Shepard cursed as he rolled on his back, rifle in his hand, and he emptied his rifle into praetorians, followed in this by Anderson, without luck "I didn't make it to here just to die like this!" said Shepard as he crawled towards Anderson. "That was the last one Commander, no more ammo" Shepard nodded, staring at the red '0' on his HUD "me neither".

The praetorian's body exploded in a huge cloud of fragments that hit Shepard and Anderson, who slowly turned away from the now smoking pile of ash, just to see the white and yellow silhouette of the Hammerhead floating a hundred meters from them and closing in fast. "Hawtrow to Commander Shepard. Are you all right commander?" the Normandy's young flight lieutenant echoed through the suite's damaged radio system, causing Shepard to finally relax a little. "loud and clear Hammerhead. It was about time!"

Shepard disengaged the servos of his suit, allowing him to walk (albeit very slowly, and with a lot more fatigue) towards the vehicle. The Hammerhead's door slid open, allowing Shepard and Anderson to board it. "Mordin!" exclaimed the commander upon seeing the alien in the shuttle "Commander." replied warmly the alien, quickly returning to his fast-paced mumbling. "hmm. Ah, yes. Fractured ribs, minor internal damage. Will live." he paused a little as he looked at the commander "Good to have you back" "It's good to be back, Mordin" said the commander as the Hammerhead jumped in the air and flown forwards, into the Normandy's shuttle bay. They were in.

The Normandy steered violently as soon as the hangar door closed, ripping a few plates from the outer hull due to the extreme torque. The three remaining engines glowed of a blinding whitish-blue light as they struggled to steer the frigate upwards, away from the ground that would quickly be filled with enemy troops looking for Shepard. Joker swiped across his controls as he put the ship in the fastest ascendance trajectory allowed by its own limits, his hands firmly gripping the controls to the point that, he was sure, at least three of his fingers were broken, he smiled in relief as he heard the powerful engine answer to his commands, a loud roar indicating that they were now at maximum capacity. The small vessel quickly exited the atmosphere, dribbling across the quickly expanding ring of debris that was forming around Earth. "Joker!" EDI's voice shook the pilot from his self-complacent trance, a touch of worry betraying her usually calm voice "We have an enemy reaper inbound." Joker steered violently, causing more than a few people to lose their balance, as he avoided the reaper's deadly beam. "Aargh, my ribs!" he shouted as he clenched onto the controls with every last of his force, managing to only scratch the Normandy's paintjob and avoiding the enemy fire. "This is not good; we will never make it to the relay with that thing on our tail. EDI, suggestions?" For a long, seemingly eternal moment, EDI stayed silent, worrying the already worried pilot even more. "EDI, everything ok?" "Joker, to the right!" the pilot steered just in time to see the red stream of a second reaper miss the cockpit by a mere couple meters. The powerful beam then hit the left wing of the Normandy, piercing through the shields and boiling the armour plating above the left engine. Joker brought around the ship, facing the first reaper, now ready to strike at the Normandy's weakened hull, and positioned himself between the two pursuing reapers. He then tapped a few commands on his console, readying the Thanix cannon. As the reaper's aye started to glow, Joker sent the Normandy towards the eye at maximum speed, firing the Thanix. The hit from the white-hot stream of molten metal passed through the reaper, severing the main power source to its weapon and leaving it adrift if anything for a brief moment. The small frigate kept speeding towards the reaper, its cannon still firing, cutting through the heavy hull of the ancient being. Then, with a sudden movement, the Normandy was now facing away from the reaper, when the second reaper opened fire. Just an instant before, however, joker activated the FTL engine, propelling the ship forward in a sudden, fast acceleration that tore apart a couple more plates and fried half the inertial dampeners on the ship, the immense torque cracking the superstructure of the right wing, the loss of one engine proving an enormous stress to the structural integrity. The trick, however, worked. The hit from the reaper hit the other reaper instead of the Normandy, cutting it open and setting its eezo core on fire. The explosion didn't make itself wait, engulfing the reaper in a blueish aura that left only empty space as it faded. Joker turned the ship towards the relay, only to find the remaining reaper in his way. He hit the Thanix controls, only to be presented with a blinking red warning on his holoscreen. "What the… Garrus, what happened to the Thanix" "The cannon overheated, Joker. Do you have any idea how long it will take to recalibrate this thing once we repair it?" the reaper charged its weapon as the Normandy tried to avoid it, but the recent manoeuvres from the ship's pilot had left the engines a little less broken than the Thanix, which meant the Normandy was very slowly attempting to avoid fire. Just as the reaper was attempting to fire, a glowing white projectile struck the reaper's weapon, breaking the complex machinery and causing an explosion that carved the reaper's front. Soon after, another projectile found its way to the reaper's hull, quickly followed by a third one. The three slugs pierced through the reaper's body and enclosed themselves within its hull, detonating shortly after they were in. the reaper was teared apart from inside, its superstructure being split open in half. The huge starship started to drift erratically as secondary explosions started to erupt among all of the ship, its navigation controls burned away by the heat. The reaper ship continued its course for a couple more seconds, its drifting put to a stop by another salvo of projectiles from the unknown ship helping the Normandy. The reaper's hull glowed white before it started to disappear, its metal boiling as the energy of the three eezo based bombs detonated within proximity of its own eezo core.

Miranda stared at the projection of the ship that just helped them – a weird configuration of three thick ellipses meld together so that they would share one side in a bigger, longer cylinder that she realised was the weapon they just witnessed. "Miranda, we're receiving a message from that ship" "Well, I'm not in a position to complain. Let's hear them" "Normandy" – a distorted voice resonated through the Normandy's CIC - "this is the Shadow Broker starship Tonguy Pyjack. We have been ordered to assist you". Miranda sighted with relief. It looked like Shepard's friend, Liara, was making good use of the Shadow Broker resources, and worried a little, thinking at the damage such a weapon could cause were a fleet of them being used against Cerberus. She quickly dismissed the thought. "Tonguy Pyjack. Thanks for the assistance. Right now, getting through the relay is our top priority" "Understood Normandy. Proceed to the relay, we'll cover you.". The Normandy hunched forward as what remained of its engines bursted into life once more, sending the ship towards the Chevron Mass Relay. "Tonguy Pyjack this is the Normandy. We're going through the relay. Thank you for the assistance." "Understood Normandy. We'll stay here covering the civilian ships while they escape. Stay safe out there. Tounguy Pyjack out." The Normandy aligned itself on the side of the relay, its engines waving brightly as they tried to maintain the ship stable. Strings of energy poured from the relay, licking the Normandy's hull as the ship's eezo core powered up, allowing the ship to travel within the super-fast conduits created by the relay. Soon after that, the battered ship came out of the Fortuna System's relay, headed towards Cerberus' shipyard.


	7. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 **Fortuna**

"Good luck Anderson" Shepard shook the hand of his old friend before he turned towards the nearest shuttle, a busy schedule already planned for him as soon as he were to set foot on the Citadel. The commander watched as the shuttle with the Ambassador vanished in the distance, the glow from its engines becoming a small flickering light against the hull of the cruiser it belonged. "Shepard?" a familiar voiced called the former alliance officer, one he was sure he heard before, but couldn't quite place. "Who- Helena. Helena Blake, right? What are you doing here?" the commander smiled at the woman in front of him, before remembering whom it was he was dealing with. "How's the smuggling operation?" "You remembered. It's great, actually. Now that Cerberus has set up a shipyard here I've become their largest supplier for the system." "I remember you not wanting outside contact. How's it working with Cerberus?" asked the commander. "It's a very beneficial partnership Shepard. I get them parts and components for their shipyard at the best price, and in return I get protection from wandering eyes" – she paused – "so what are you doing here commander? Last I heard, you were on Earth awaiting trial when…how is it?" the Commander didn't answer, the memory of his home planet surrounded by Reapers still vivid in his mind. "Sorry. I'll see you around Commander" with that, the mysterious criminal walked to a nearby elevator, disappearing once again as its doors closed behind her.

"Shepard! Glad to see you again" "Garrus!" exclaimed the Commander while he stood up and walked towards his comrade "It's good to see a friendly face again. Please" the commander waved towards the chairs he was sitting in previously "It's like we had much time to talk these last hours." he paused, taking a deep breath. The cold filtered air of the station a welcome change after the fumes filled atmosphere of the prison under attack first and the sparky air of the Normandy soon after their escape "Glad to see you stayed." "I couldn't leave the Normandy Shepard. Not after what we've seen." Garrus looked at Shepard for a moment, his comrade and friend of countless battles. "Besides, the crew of the Normandy has always been friendly. If I had to base my opinion of Cerberus on them, I would never relate them to those sick experiments with the Thorian all those years ago" they both stayed silent for a moment, the words of the Turian making them think back to the begin of all of this. "Perhaps that was their plan all along. Make us feel safe and comfortable. Having the crew suspecting each other wouldn't have helped preparing a suicide mission I guess. Not that it matters now." "So tell me, what's happened in these months I've been away? Is everyone ok?" the look on Garrus' face saddened, his markings accentuating his frown "Who's here is fine" he sighted "but some left us. On their own accord of course," added quickly the turian, the worried expression on his commander's face already too clear. "So who's left Garrus? I know Joker is still here"

"Yes, for the misfortune of us. They're almost all here Commander. Jack left the Normandy a week after you were captured. She said she didn't mind coming along while you were there, but that she didn't trust Cerberus enough to stay on one of their ships without anyone 'keeping a check on the Cheerleader's tentacles'" Shepard smiled at this, but worried for what could've happened at the convict while he was…convicted. She had just started to find some trust in her teammates, and then her CO went missing, leaving her on a ship owned by the man who funded the tormentors of her infancy. Where would she be now? – "She did leave a video for you in case you'd be back." Garrus paused, the memory of his feelings after he lost his squad getting at him for a brief moment. He then shook his head a little, siding those thoughts. "She wasn't the only one. We left Grunt on Tuckanka on request of Wrex" the Turian's face forming a little smile as he remembered the exchange between the two krogan "Zaeed went back to the Blue Suns and put them in line. Doctor Chackwas returned to the Alliance" the Turian's tone faltering as he saw the news troubling the Commander. "She's been assigned to a medical facility on the Citadel" quickly added Garrus. "We also had to let Tali go. You know how loyal she is to that fleet of hers." "Of course" said Shepard, his tone saddened by this latest batch of departures. "And that's it. The rest of the team is still on board Commander. And -" A beeping sound from Shepard's omnitool stopped Garrus mid-sentence. "Looks like the Illusive Man wants to talk. I'll see you later Garrus." "Of course. I'll be around. Welcome back Commander."

"Shepard!" exclaimed The Illusive Man as the commander entered the room, a tone of relief and happiness betraying his otherwise usual tone. "The man who saved the galaxy is finally here" he paused "back from an Alliance prison. I guess they didn't see the truth we always saw." "I'm sure they had plenty of good reasons to hold me," said defensibly the commander "Joining a human terrorist group and blowing up a batarian system are hardly[LL1] looked positively upon in the military. And apparently some of them were convinced of the truth. Otherwise I wouldn't be here now" he glanced at TIM, his pride in the Alliance still strong enough to make TIM's words against the Alliance bothering him. "Of course. And now they can't deny the threat is here" he paused, sighting while thinking back to Earth "We now find ourselves at a critical time Shepard. Humanity is in need of a new leader…and we are the only ones organized enough." "Perhaps… but the Council will never accept a human leadership led by Cerberus." "No, they won't" continued the Illusive Man "but having a human councillor who …understands… our true goal might come in handy" "I'm not sure Anderson would be willing to do that. He already had to close an eye getting me out of Earth…" "And that is the first step toward humanity's success. Humanity needs you Shepard. And the galaxy needs humanity, if we ever want to see the end of this war" TIM reached for a pocket in his jacket and produced a small metal box. He opened it, picked up a cigar and put the box away, lighting the cigar with a Normandy shaped lighter, causing Shepard to barely suppress a loud laugh. Cerberus' leader puffed a vast cloud of smoke, savouring the taste of the cigar before continuing his speech, leaving Shepard petrified "as Humanity needs them." "That's a…unexpected change of MO…for Cerberus" "there's no point in denying it commander. Humanity is not capable of standing against the Reapers on its own. And as much as I hate to admit it, being friendly proved to be a working strategy…for you anyway. So I'm willing to give it a chance." "What about the other races? Will they be willing to trust Cerberus?" "We don't know. The quarians seemed to be willing to get past our previous, although that could have just been due to your history with Tali. The other races…they don't see us as a particularly trustworthy party" "That's expectable, given your actions up to this point" "Our actions" said firmly the Illusive Man "have always been in Humanity's best interest. We did…" "What was necessary. I know. But that's exactly why they don't trust us. Forwarding humanity's agenda at any cost is hardly the best way to make friends with other species" TIM took another deep breath from his cigar, contemplating the Commander's words. "Perhaps…that's why you'll be heading to Thessia for your next assignment." "Thessia?" asked the commander, surprised by the destination TIM gave him "Yes. We've been in contact with an Asari Matriarch named [Nome Matriarch]. She has a few…issues that need solving. You'll be heading there in a few days. In the meantime, I suggest you rest a little. I don't recall Alliance prisons to be very comfortable. Oh, the Normandy will be docked here for the next two weeks. You'll be leaving for Asari space in one of their cruisers…" "Courtesy of the Shadow Broker" said the Illusive Man, as to answer the disbelief in the Commander's face at hearing that an Asari warship was permitted docking at a Cerberus base. Wasn't this a Human supremacist organisation? He quickly dismissed the though, happy to see TIM willing to cooperate with aliens. Or at the very least to be somewhat tolerant of them. "What's left of your squad will accompany you on Thessia. After that, you have a squad to regroup. I already have a few dossiers ready for you" "I should go" "Of course. Take care Shepard. Humanity counts on you"

The commander exited TIM's office, followed by the silent hissing of the doors behind him.

* * *

[LL1]Sulla Normandy:

· Samara

· Garrus

· Miranda

· Jacob

· Kasumi

· Legion

· Mordin

Assenti:

· Jack

· Zaeed

· Tali

· Grunt

· Thane


	8. Chapter 5,5

**Catching up with the team**

Shepard's quarters were on the outer ring of the station, a large ring of metal rotating around the central pillar of the station, generating a gravity comparable to that of earth, but noticeably lighter. Despite being just a temporary accommodation, the commander's room was fairly large, consisting of three large rooms and a bathroom. Shepard entered the living room, a large, steel and black coloured room soberly decorated, with a glass table and four low black chairs around it. To the left, a large observation room allowed for the viewing of the outer space on one side and of the station's inwards living quarters on the other. To the right, a small corridor led to the bedroom, a black and white painted room with a large, shielded observation glass looking over to the nearby star. The light reducing sheets on the glass clearly visible against the sun's image. A control panel on its side allowed for obscuring the glass, covering it with a sheet of metal armour that – Shepard was sure – doubled as part of the station's armours when it was under attack, much like the one on the Normandy's observation lounge. He touched a button on the panel, covering the view on the sun, and sending the room into darkness. A few seconds later, ambient lights turned on, glowing lightly in the room and making the corners of the bed stand out in the relative dark room. The Commander crushed on the bed, tired. He sighted, the weight of the last few months, and especially the last two days, finally getting the best of him. A few moments later, he was asleep.

The alarm on Shepard's bedside table glow brightly in the darkness of the room, its large numbers indicating it was already 15:00. The commander, still a bit sleepy, woke up to the sound of his doorbell ringing. Noticing the time, he sighted in resignation and slowly walked to the door, only to find that whoever it was that was looking for him got tired of waiting. "No point in going back to sleep now" he thought to himself, raising the shielding panel that blocked the outside view and letting some light come in the room.

After a shower that lasted between one and two hours, he came out of his quarter, looking refreshed after finally having had the chance to catch some sleep and wash properly. He looked around, his memories from the other night only helping him so much to get a bearing of his location. He walked along the ring's circumference, admiring the intricate architecture of spheres and rings that made up this section of the station, until he finally found himself at the ring's junction with the main structure of the station. "This ought to be a good place to start", he muttered to himself, walking towards a hologram very similar to Avina, the Citadel's ever-helpful VI.

"Hello, and welcome to the Fortuna Shipyards Station Commander Shepard" said the VI in a cheerful tone. The hologram – in the shape of an attractive human female – glowed a not too bright yellow, and gestured while talking. "It appears that this is your first visit to the station. Would you like a tour of the facility? Or perhaps you require directions to somewhere specific." Inquired the VI. "Is there a way to the shipyards themselves? Last time I was on the Normandy, it looked like she took quite a beating. I'd like to take a look for myself." "Affirmative" – replied the VI, her image replaced by a 3D section map of the station. – "Take the elevator on your right and follow the path. Further indication will be present" "Thank you" said the commander, turning towards the elevator.

The elevator's doors opened, and Shepard was almost run over by Gabby and Ken, who exited the lift still absorbed in their conversation, and only noticed the Commander a few seconds from hitting him. "Commander!" exclaimed happily Gabriella "I'm so glad you're ok." "Yeah, she wouldn't stop for a second. She... ouch!" The commander never knew what Kenneth was going to say, as a hit from Gabby's elbow made him stop talking. The Commander and Gabby grinned. "As I was saying… good to see you Commander" "Same here Gabriella. Kenneth. Anything on the Normandy?" the engineers looked at one another, and then back to the commander. "She's a strong lady Commander. She'll be back on her feet in no time" Shepard smiled, relieved. If they were sure the Normandy wouldn't carry the scars of the recent battle, then he would trust their judgement. "Very well. If you need anything, let me know" "aye aye Commander". The duo and Shepard went their own ways.

The entrance to the shipyard was a long, relatively thin corridor with many large windows overseeing the actual shipyards, enclosed within the walls of the station. The Normandy was docked at one of the four main shipyards, each capable of holding a ship as large as dreadnought. The Commander gulped, finally seeing the damage endured in his rescue. The entire right wing of the Normandy was being replaced, and both the engines on the left were undergoing the same treatment. A large section of the front ventral section was also missing, and a number of shuttlecrafts were moving what appeared to be some kind of Thanix cannon towards the ship's main gun holder. More plates were missing all around the ship, a scar left from Joker's extreme manoeuvring while escaping Reaper fire. As he walked towards the access platform to the shipyard, a small cargo shuttle, loaded with torpedoes and Element Zero, sped towards the Normandy, docking inside its cargo bay from a removed hull plate. The access platform, namely a long catwalk with many positions where someone could exit in the vacuum of the shipyard and perform operations on the ship's exterior hull, was lightly lit by floor-mounted lights, creating a relaxing atmosphere.

After checking in with the local overseer – a Nigerian man in his forties – Shepard proceeded towards the Normandy, walking along the catwalk and peeking at the ongoing repairs. After a few minutes, he arrived at the other end of the catwalk, secured to what used to be the Normandy's airlock, which had been removed shortly after their arrival in order to facilitate the crew moving parts and equipment in and out of the ship.

The Commander stepped in, watching carefully the floor as to not walk over something, as most of the floor was cluttered with repair equipment or was missing altogether, its plates having being removed to allow access to the underlying circuitry. The master situation console, which was usually glowing with its holographic projection of the Normandy, was now silent and dark, with parts of it missing and being repaired.

As Shepard slowly walked inside the CIC deck, he glanced at Joker's console, which had also got removed and was now being replaced with a newer one. He smiled, noticing that they left the leather seat his pilot was so fond of. The curved, harmonious long profile of the deck was broken by the numerous open panels where cables and circuits were being checked and replaced, and the usual bright lights were all off, replaced by relatively dim, portable lights fixed in position where people were at work. Suddenly, the Commander went for the lift, an urgent thought pressing on him as the elevator travelled to his cabin. After what seemed like an eternity in the elevator, he quickly entered the room, worried, and felt relieved at the sight of his fishes, still alive in the great tank of his quarter. The lights behind the tank were still lit, sending a dim blueish light across the room that reflected the waves made by the fishes as they passed by.

The commander gave a thought about sleeping there for the night, but was quickly forced to withdraw the thought as a voice from the PA system announced that the Commander's cabin was scheduled next for repairs. The commander took a closer look, and noticed a long, slim crack all across the window watching outside space. He froze there for an instant, realizing just how close the whole ship had got near its destruction and was distracted in his thought by the arrival of the first repair team assigned to his quarter, which arrived shortly after. "Commander!" said a young woman as she saw the Normandy's CO "We didn't expect you to be on the ship. We'll be back once you're finished" "I was just looking around, miss…?" "Erica. Vice Chief Engineer Erica Madsen. Sir." said the woman while straitening her posture and standing at attention "at ease Chief. I was just giving a look around to see If everything was still in its place. I'll leave you to your work immediately" said the commander, who grabbed a few datapads that were lying on the floor near his desk and went for the elevator. "Be careful with the fishes" he said smiling, and then disappeared in the elevator.

The Commander continued his tour of the Normandy, going down below the CIC. The corridor to the aft observatory was closed by melted and contorted metal, which was already being cut down and removed. He walked past the crew quarters and into the mess hall, where the floor had already been removed, leaving only small passages covered with the usual plating. He walked to one side, entering the sickbay, and proceeded into the AI room, where he was welcomed by a very busy Legion, who was occupied repairing one of the processing units of the Normandy's AI. "Shepard-commander" greeted him the Geth "You seem happy to see me, Legion. Are you ok?" "This platform is functioning between the expected parameters. We are, as you would say, 'fine'" the Commander shook his head, laughing. He then inquired him about the repairs "What happened?" "Sustained fire and power drain during your rescue caused a power fluctuation in one of the computer nodes. I am attempting to retrieve the data stored there before proceeding to change the unit." Seeing as he was no use there, he left, leaving Legion at his work.


End file.
